The ANC then and now

The party that ended apartheid is losing its appeal very fast among black South Africans, many of whom have grown frustrated waiting for the ‘better life for all’ promised when African National Congress won the historic multiracial elections 18 years ago.

When Nelson Mandela was elected as South Africa’s first black president in 1994, there was a burst of hope that a new era of equality was on the horizon.

The ANC promised sweeping social change to redress the inequalities forged under apartheid, which oppressed non-whites through a system of racial separation enforced by harsh laws and police brutality to ensure the supremacy of white South Africans.

It is reported that ANC party apparatus selects the MPs who have no real connection with local constituencies and does not allow cross party alliances to get things done for a part of the country or whatever, does not allow rival power centers in the ANC to develop.

The Parliament is elected via a proportional representation system, with each party getting a certain percentage of the total vote allocated a proportional number of seats.

The recent industrial disputes in the mining sector and the heavy handed action of the police force also ruined the little influence the ANC had among the black voters. Now, coupled with corruption everywhere among officers, as reported in the media, none can predict the future of ANC, an organization which had such lot of respect worldwide, under the great Nelson Mandela.